Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

I started 2022 with a stark realization about my content consumption habits and committed to reverse the ratio between content consumption and content production. My practical commitment to make this reversal was to release a new episode every day of the year on YouTube, my podcast, and my blog. I was able to keep this commitment, and I've seen some incredible results.  When Spotify released its Wrapped reports in November, I'd already released 300 episodes, created 4,200 minutes of content, and seen my streaming numbers increase by 999%. December numbers will show that I reached over 365 video/audio/blog releases, and my number of minutes will be over 5000. YouTube reports that I've generated 19,200 views on my channel, and my watch hours have increased to 582. These numbers are enough to encourage me to continue releasing new video, audio, and blog content with a high frequency, although I will be allowing myself a couple of days off each week from now on. I'm also ex...

 I haven't listened to as many podcasts this year as last, but I wanted to mention those that I still automatically download. I keep my subscription list trimmed to about fifty shows, and right now it's at 49. Of those, there are less than ten that I listen to every episode. I'm sharing my top ten for 2022 according to the Podcast Addict app. 1. The Entrepreneur's Ecosystem Podcast - I made a recommendation video about this one  back in October. Dawn Petrin and Chanti Zak host in-depth interviews with coaches, copywriters, marketers, and other entrepreneurs. The enthusiasm and energy are high, and the guests are top-notch. 2. Copywriters Podcast - This has been one of my top picks for a few years. Copywriting coach David Garfinkel curates marketing communication advice from some of the best writers in the history of modern advertising. While I don't consider myself a great copywriter, I continue to learn things from this show that raise my game. 3. Akimbo: A Podca...

While I made the commitment to consume less content in 2022, I managed to read more books this year than I've read any other year of my life. A couple of reasons for that are that a friend of mine and I started off the year with a discussion of It's Not Your Money, by Tosha Silver and then decided to keep the discussions and books going after we'd finished. Additionally, I've become an Audible true believer. I've read more fiction this year than ever and it's mostly because I can listen while driving, walking the dog, washing dishes, and in quiet moments with earbuds. The list is long this year. I'm sharing Amazon Associate links if you think you'd like to read any of these. Your clicks result in my commissions, so thanks! From Book Discussions It's Not Your Money, by Tosha Silver  This one was on my list last year, but I have a feeling I'll revisit it yearly. Great spiritual perspective on money and some simple practices to positively shift our ...

Jody has risen to the highest levels of her company ladder, but she's frustrated that she's been getting passed over for promotion to the C-Suite. She's done the work, brought innovative ideas to the table, and has seniority over all but the CEO and COO of the company. It doesn't make sense that she is not being considered for advancement. This is a perfect situation in which to call Fran Gallaher. Fran is an intuitive guide who helps individuals and organizations supplement their data, logic, and rationale with information that may be discouraged or ignored due to being outside the realm of normal business convention. Fran teaches people how to access and understand their own inner senses as they navigate their way through making their best decisions for themselves and their organizations. She also offers professional intuitive services as a coach and consultant. In this episode, we explore topics like: ** Identifying and using your inner senses. ** Being willing to tr...

I made a video the other day asking the question, "What if you can't find your why?" I've had some strong reactions to that idea. There were a couple of people who treated it as a condition on par with a disease, quickly prescribing things to do to solve the problem. Why are we so adamant that life has to have a purpose? Where did we get the idea that it needs to mean something, and that we're less than if we don't land on that purpose that gives our life meaning? I wonder if my food will taste just as good if I don't have a bigger purpose than just living? I wonder if music will move me more if I know I'm here for a reason? I wonder if I can be okay without winning one of the coveted prizes? In the video I refer to a story about Buckminster Fuller that appears to be urban legend, but it remains insightful. Here's an article if you want to know more: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/arts/music/15ster.html (Sorry if there's a paywall). I wond...

The town where I spent many growing up years had a thriving local mom-and-pop-based business economy when I was young. The big stores back then had outlets in our town, but most of the commerce that happened, took place between people who lived there and whose families owned the businesses. My Aunt Lue was one of them. Our family helped Aunt Lue run her hotel until after she died, then they sold it to make way for a new post office. WalMart moved into town in the 1990s and Main Street stores were boarded up. Even Sears, Montgomery Wards, and JC Penney are gone now. Every business has a lifespan and that includes social media platforms with all the rest. We've seen platforms like MySpace, Friendster, Google+, and others last a few years and then get replaced by something else that works better. The featured video on the end screen is the interview I did with Yifat Cohen where she tells the story of growing a community of 100,000 followers on Google+ only to have Google pull the plug...

This year I released a handful of new courses and have had over 300 people join my Teachable school. After some recent pricing and service changes announced by Teachable, I've made the difficult decision to leave their service and host my courses on another platform. I'm working on the last-minute details of that switch and will be sending out announcements to all my subscribers as soon as I have a place for you to access your courses. This trend of slashing services and increasing prices has been popular in the SaaS world this year. I've had four of my primary Saas subscriptions do a similar thing, and I'll be leaving all of them as soon as my current subscription period is over. As a business owner, I know that business models are evolving things, and they change as the market demands. But when you change your business model, don't piss off your existing customers. My business model is also changing, but I've made it a point to get feedback from the clients I...

Continuing the theme of spirituality and faith. - I want to reiterate the proposition that entrepreneurship is as viable a path for spiritual development as meditation, yoga, and religion.  I think we compartmentalize life more than we need to, and we ascribe sacredness to certain activities and secular to others when it seems closer to Peter Mayer's observation that everything is holy now. Check out his song  https://youtu.be/ua0PE1zulD4 Entrepreneurship and solitude work reveals our limits in tangible ways. We learn that there is a natural end to our abilities and that our imagination often isn't enough to do a job.  As we reach the end of our own capabilities, new ways of perceiving become possible. These new ways of perceiving expand our consciousness. This expanded consciousness enables us to see problems differently and imagine solutions that otherwise escape us. The most common experience of entrepreneurship that fosters spiritual development is the continually dee...

On this Christmas day, 2022, I remember a holiday season from many years ago when my faith had started to self-destruct. All the things I had believed in were called to question, and I was left without anything to stand on. At the time, there was a huge uproar in the community where I lived about displaying religious and spiritual symbols on city property, particularly a menorah for Hanukah and a manger for Christmas. I remember laughing myself to tears over this issue, realizing that I would have been marching in protest only a year or two before that. But at the time, I had no feeling about the issue at all. During those years of deconstruction, I still had a yearning. I yearned to know love and to know somehow that I and we aren't alone here. I expressed this desire in a song I wrote called Let It Be Born Tonight. I mentioned this song the other day in my video about hope. If you want to hear the song, I gave the song and rights to it to an organization called Hungry For Music. ...

Sharing a handful of childhood Christmas Eve memories, and featuring one of them in greater detail. If you've never watched Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, my sisters and I are looking at you wondering how that could have happened. Go watch it and always remember that if you meet somebody who don't like soul food, they still got a soul. If you'd like to download a copy of the poem read here, click this link, and you should be able to download it. Feel free to share with anyone who you think will appreciate it. https://bit.ly/Franklin-Taggart-Night-Before-Christmas I wish you all warm and peaceful holidays. Be good to each other. #Christmas2022 #nightbeforechristmas #podcast 

A few years before her 18-year corporate HR career ended, Laura Livingston started allowing herself extended time off to travel. As her travels unfolded, she became aware of a growing need and vision for her life to undergo a radical change, but she wasn't exactly sure what that change needed to be. While still working full-time, she started to explore other interests and experiences to see if any of them would show themselves to be her next direction. When her career came to an end due to a layoff, she leapt into an ongoing process of self-discovery through serving others as a yoga instructor, then hypnotherapist, then gradually working into her current role as a mindset and transition coach. In this interview, we talk about the following: ** Leaving a job you love. ** Giving yourself time to explore. ** Growing comfortable with a new role and title. ** Feeling guilty about not feeling satisfied. ** and Navigating life changes through strategic pivoting. To learn more about Laura,...

I've had a few conversations recently centered on the difficulty of identifying one's purpose. And I'm reaching a point in my work where the next expression of my purpose isn't clear. I've had some well-meaning friends suggest the book Start With Why, by Simon Sinek. I've read this book a couple of times and I've found Sinek's insights helpful, but they aren't a universal answer to people who are struggling to identify what their why is. There are times in life when considering the future is difficult because we're putting something from our past to rest. The emotions that go along with that process of grieving and letting go are from the same pool as those we need to envision and embody a new future. Often, if a client or a friend is having a hard time finding a future vision or a sense of purpose in life, it's because their emotions aren't available for the task. If you are in this position, I assure you there is nothing wrong with you....

I'm reading two books on the topic of creativity, Creative Quest, by Questlove, and The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida. Creative Quest is a fairly recent release and it's a personal exploration of his creative process as a musician, a creator, a DJ, and other roles the Roots drummer plays. The Rise of the Creative Class has an updated second edition that was released within the past few years. It's more about the segment of our economy and labor market that is made up of creative people. Both books have opinions on definitions of creativity, and like all books on the subject, there is more to the mystery of the thing than words can capture or articulate. It brought to mind the difference between learning about creativity and actually having creative experiences. I have some friends who have taken university-level classes on creativity, and their own creative output didn't seem to benefit from the education. I haven't found the book on creativity yet ...

We have a strange set of cultural norms around how creative people are supposed to become successful. The common tropes of the starving artist, suffering for your art, and paying your dues need to be made a thing of the past IMHO. In the folk music world that I've been a part of, I've seen people show up year after year, volunteering for menial jobs at festivals, playing free gigs and open mics, agreeing to play for "exposure", and finding a hundred other ways to chip away at their soul in exchange for opportunities that never arrive. And that is considered normal and acceptable. I believe in a different model. I stand by the idea that our creativity is meant to be a valuable service to other people, making a positive difference in the quality of their lives. And that it's worth paying for. The majority of creative people I work with have been struggling with these messages and their fallout for their entire careers. I know many musicians who have been paying dues...

I was talking with a client yesterday about her feeling about not knowing what is next for her and her art business. She's had a few very successful years but has started to experience a slowing down and a level of dissatisfaction with the work she's doing now that suggests she's ready for a new level of development both as a creator and an entrepreneur. It's tempting at times like this to try to restructure what you're already doing, but I had another direction in mind. I asked her to tell me her core values. As she talked, it became clear to both of us that her values weren't clear to her and that the words she used to talk about her values were more used to impress other people than to represent who she really is. When we took the time to identify and articulate her values more clearly, she started to see that her dissatisfaction was coming from doing work that wasn't in alignment with her values. This gave us a much more solid starting place to work on e...

I made a TikTok video a while back about this, but I thought I'd add to it here. I had a client recently ask me what I believe as far as spirituality and religion are concerned. The best I can say is I really don't know. In my life, I've been a Mormon, Christian, skeptic, seeker, dabbler, and devotee. I've learned meditation, reflection, scripture, and yoga. I've read hundreds of teachings and listened to hours of lectures and silence. I've had a handful of breathtaking awe-inspiring experiences. And even with all this, I can't articulate what I believe into a cohesive set of words. Iris Dement probably captured it best in her song Let the Mystery Be. "But no one knows for certain, and so it's all the same to me. I think I'll just let the mystery be." I also honor that aspect of us that needs to know why - that seeks to make this life mean something. Science can't deliver answers to this, so we turn to spirituality and religion. And eve...

I was reminded today of one of my favorite podcast interviews. Bronwyn Jane is an intuitive and medium who shares life insights and messages with people that come to her through her intuitive senses.  In this segment, we talk about the difficulty some people experience when accepting payment for using their gifts. Bronwyn shares her experience of learning to acknowledge the value of what she does and finding a rate that helped her clients perceive her work with the highest value. The entire interview is available here: https://www.franklintaggart.com/2022/06/honoring-your-own-gifts-bronwyn-jane.html . More information about Bronwyn and her services can be found at https://BronwynJaneMedium.com #pricing #value #worth 

From a struggling single mom to escaping a 13-year narcissistic abusive relationship, Sabrina’s tenacity and optimistic spirit have inspired fans worldwide and helped endless amounts of people break through and discover their own untapped talents and immense potential. Now, creator and CEO of Human Better 365, a human transformation company, creator of the Her Version Podcast, and founder of the Sober Society Community. Speaker, entrepreneur, and author. Today on Your Own Best Company, Sabrina shares her compelling and sometimes terrifying personal story ending on a note of hope and triumph.  Listen to her talk about: ** Her journey from fear to courage and confidence. ** Ignoring red flags and the experience of self-blame. ** The tension between leaving and staying. ** Becoming financially independent. ** Piecing together an escape plan. ** Evolving a coaching business. And more... You can find more information about Sabrina, her programs and services, Her Version, The Sober Socie...

Celebrating my son's birthday and my wife's return home from three weeks away today. Seeing my son at seventeen and remembering myself at that age is the fodder for today's Coffee Break. Like father, like son is not a very accurate prediction. Bodhi is so far ahead of where I was at his age. I was a timid, socially awkward kid who tried to make up for my insecurities by showing off and other displays of bravado, none of which had any substance to back them up. I was a late starter as far as finding my own way of contributing, and I was extremely slow to ask for the things I wanted. Bodhi is much bolder than I am, and he asks for what he wants without a second thought. He's also much more confident in his social relationships than I ever was. He still has insecurities, but they aren't debilitating. He rebounds from challenges and difficult conversations and moves on. This video is my tribute to him. #birthdays #comingofage #growingup 

When I was 46 I thought I was going to die. My organs were failing. My right lung was compressed and scarred by fluid. I had congestive heart failure, and I wasn't sure I'd live much longer. In the midst of that time, my experience of hope shifted dramatically. Up until then I always had a sense that I had plenty of time to do the things I wanted, and pursue my dreams. But when I started to get seriously ill, life took on a much more urgent quality. Hope after that was much more centered in the moment, and any consideration about results or long-term benefits were now focused on what will be left after I'm gone for others to benefit from. This video experiment has been a realization of that hope. I expect these videos to outlive me, and to be found by people who may have never known me. I've found it impossible to make even short-term plans. It's hard to see much past this present moment, and I think I'm OK with that. Being future-focused actually removes my att...

A few weeks ago I interviewed Michael Roderick, an impresario and media maker who I've grown to admire and appreciate. He sends out almost daily emails featuring his thinking on certain topics, and one of his recent messages really struck me. The title was Why a Lot of "Hits" Miss. While we creators like to think we're making something everyone in the world will need and appreciate, the decision is not ours to make. Micheal correctly points out that the market is the decider about what will gain widespread attention, acceptance, and acclaim.  His encouragement is for the creators to engage in the hard work of iteration instead of toiling to determine what the market wants and then create for that. Sadly, that formula rarely produces anything except what has already been popular. My encouragement is to pay more attention to your own resonance as a creator. Make the things that make you tingle, and then share them. I think the only aspect of the hitmaking process the cr...

I was asked today about my greatest concerns for the future. Climate change is obvious and urgent, but there's another future concern I have that is equally urgent. Artificial Intelligence. In recent weeks, we've all seen some of the new capabilities of artificial intelligence to both create interesting images (Lensa), and to respond accurately in conversations with humans to answer increasingly complex questions ( ChatGPT ). More applications like these come to market every day, and the greatest concern I have about this is the long-term impact tools like this will have on economies as more and more human labor is replaced by machines. This isn't a new concern, but the urgency surrounding this technological revolution is one that will affect more sectors of labor than any other, including creative industries, medicine, law, and business. Human labor is one of the fundamental ways we participate in the economy. If this ability to participate is removed from even as much as ...

It feels like the level of burnout around webinars, summits, courses, workshops, funnels, and many other popular marketing tactics is only increasing. Now the workshops are all coming with titles like, A Workshop for People Who Hate Workshops. In this Coffee Break, Franklin Taggart makes the suggestion that there may be room for a return to more informal gatherings in which conversations can go deep, sharing is encouraged, and the emphasis is on being together before anything else. Instead of putting hundreds of hours into organizing a summit or a workshop where attendance isn't guaranteed, why don't we just invite some people over for dinner and share what we're up to. Get to know each other on a deep and meaningful human level before we start making pitches. My experience is that these gatherings actually create the circumstances in which these pitches are more likely to appeal. Informal gatherings will be central to my intention for 2023. #networking #gathering #tribes 

  I create a new business model every year. In most years, it shows up well before now. This year it's late.= Your business isn't set in stone. It's a live organism that adjusts to different circumstances and developments. That's normal. If you're looking for a sounding board for your next year in business, consider scheduling a Best Next Step coaching session at https://bit.ly/BestNextStepCall #planning #2023goals #businessmodel 

We all have beliefs and behaviors we carry through our lives that can become saboteurs in certain situations. These internal saboteurs can be problematic when they keep people from reaching important goals and outcomes, and they can infect teams with defensiveness and mistrust, eroding relationships as they go. Our favorite organizational psychologist, Dr. Joanie Connell is back to give us some insight about these saboteurs, and she's offering a program that helps individuals and teams recognize their saboteurs and the stress that triggers them, and allow people to have more freedom to choose their responses instead of habitually reacting. If you're interested in identifying your saboteurs, there is an assessment available at https://positiveintelligence.com Joanie can be reached at https://flexibleworksolutions.com and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanieconnell/ #positiveintelligence #organizationalpsychology #selfsabotage 

I drive vehicles until they can no longer be driven. I've had a 2000 Ford van in my driveway that hasn't been started in over a year. I could sell it for parts, but finding a buyer takes time and energy I don't have right now, so what to do? Vehicles for Charity makes that a no-brainer. I filled out an online form, received a confirmation call the next morning, scheduled the tow, and had the title and let's ready for the driver. With less than an hour of my time invested, my favorite community radio station will now be getting the proceeds from the auction of my old wheels. If you're in Northern Colorado and want to donate your vehicle, learn more at https://vehiclesforcharity.org . #charitablegiving #donate #taxdeductions 

A few weeks ago, I rearranged my office space to accommodate more musical recording. I'm in a pretty small room, so anything I can do to utilize space more efficiently is a tremendous help. I also have a difficult time sorting and giving things away or selling them. I have a 2000 Ford van sitting in the driveway that hasn't run in over a year and it's been waiting for me to just decide where it goes and make arrangements to take it there. Yesterday, I donated it to a locela charity through Vehicles for Charity. I don't think my donation will amount to much, but I don't have to pay to have it towed away, and one of my favorite organizations might get a few hundred bucks out of the deal. I can also write off the contribution.  Just that one bit of movement has gotten me more energized to let go of stuff. Music and recording equipment I no longer use or need? Gone! My dad's remaining book collection that I have no interest in reading? Gone! Every piece of paper I...

 Many years ago, I was working with a spiritual teacher who challenged pretty much everything I said.  All the beliefs I grew up with and my biases were fair game. This deconstruction didn't happen in a violent or abusive way; in fact, there was a gentleness in how it was carried out that I appreciate to this day. This morning's inspiring conversation brought that situation to mind again. Our psychological conditioning is a powerful psychological mechanism that insures our survival, but there also seems to be an evolutionary imperative to grow beyond the life we were conditioned to have. While the conversation this morning was primarily centered on deconstructing prejudice and biases, my reflections afterward threw many more sacred cows under the bus.  Beliefs about who I am and how life is, and how the world is supposed to work all can be called into question and brought to greater scrutiny in the light of awareness.  For me, the value of coaching has been a safe pl...

One of the recent books I've read with my book pal is The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, by Priya Parker. This beautifully written book guides the reader through some insights and suggestions for elevating our common custom of gathering together to the level of art. I'm adding it to my list of recommended reading. https://amzn.to/3Uzn5sG (affiliate link) I also wanted to mention a few online networking mixers I enjoy: The Generous Entrepreneurs in Media mixers hosted by Jason Van Orden and Michael Roderick - http://generousentrepreneursinmedia.com/ The Lead Boss Mixer hosted by Cat Stancik - https://leadbossmixer.com And all the resources offered by Robbie Samuels - https://robbiesamuels.com/videos I hope to see you there! #networking #mixer #onlinenetworking 

I always enjoy my conversations with my good friend Dr. Joanie Connell. If you haven't heard the Reinventing nerds podcast, this is a good time to check it out. We had a fun chat about the pros and cons of working alone. Listen, subscribe, and if you like it, review!

In the past few years, my participation on Facebook and other social media platforms has shifted from content creation and sharing to more group participation and looking for opportunities for discussion, service, and meaningful interaction. This has been liberating. In the old model, I'd spend hours creating content to share, hoping it would reach enough people and stimulate enough likes and shares to be picked up by the algorithm for more people to see. I did social media this way for many years until I went through a period of burnout. Looking back on all that activity, I learned some important lessons. First, the content creation didn't amount to much more than busy work when I looked at the overall return I received from my time investment. Playing the algorithm and going viral was a losing proposition in gaining business. The one area that had a high payoff was Facebook groups. I tried hosting my own for a while, but that didn't get off the ground, mostly because I di...

One week after the 9/11 attacks, I released my first and only music CD, Falling All The Way. I had hoped that would launch some of my best musical years. Life had other plans. Today, we're remembering our daughter Sarah Grace who was born 19 years ago. After ten miraculous days with us, she departed for the great beyond and we were left to pick up the pieces. That was just the beginning. This year, I've had friends face illness, deaths of loved ones, loss of jobs and businesses, and other major life events. In the midst of these hard times, I've seen them rally and dig to new depths within themselves to make it through to the next scene. Resilience is built into our mechanisms. We need to take care of ourselves and each other. #lifeevents #loss #planning